While the Bonnet's Open

For the non Anglophiles, bonnet : English :: hood : American, and for those who don't remember the SAT analogy format (happily, I had to double check), that translates to bonnet is to English as hood, as in the cover of a car's engine, is to American. 

Ok, phew, since I was digging into the drivetrain of my single speed anyway, I figured I might as well put a lower gear in back as well. I could claim that this was to reduce the load on the chain, but instead I'll be honest and say I'd been considering pedalling a little easier for at least a month. When I first converted that bike to more pavement duties, I equiped it with a 42x16 gear, which lasted months before I swapped the rear cog to 17 teeth, and it was at least another year before I shifted down to the even easier 18 tooth gear that came off today. Notice a trend? Maybe I can learn, and even better, maybe I'll still have functional knees in my even older age!

Yes,

I've worn cogs to spikier points,

but yes,

I guess I did wear that old chain to

the breaking point.

Today was Brookfield Farm veggie pickup day, courtesy of friends who gifted me their share while they're out of town this week. It was sunny, so no need for the fendered bike, but I was curious to experience how the new gear felt outside my backyard, so the back-up-to-one-gear bike saw the nod again today, and I headed out early to wander indirectly over the ridge and even stroll a couple trail sections on foot along the way.

First impressions were, wow, one tooth added to 18 is a bigger difference than I expected. Maybe 18 was right. I'd stuck with it for a few years, even riding over the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains last summer, finding the speed at which I could no longer turn that gear was pretty much my walking speed, so no loss when it forced me to dismount and push. There is a logic to that reference, but there's also a logic to not using, and abusing, my body to its utmost capacity.

First impressions are meant to change, and by the time I returned home after riding the hill that broke my chain yesterday, this time with both my drivetrain and knees intact, yeah, sure, I'll keep riding the easier gear some more and see how it grows on me. I think it will, at least until I finally grow up into a 20.